Make Your Own Flooring with 1×6 pine

Wood Floors – they’re the corner stone of a custom built, beautiful home. As lovely as they may be, doing them on a budget isn’t quite so easy, so we figured out how to get great wood floors on a small budget.

This post was shared exactly one year ago today. I still get emails nearly every week about how to do these, if they’ve held up, do I still love them, etc.

The short answer is yes. They have held up amazingly well with lots of daily traffic (and probably not cleaned enough.) I am so glad we choose this method, because I still love the fact that I got exactly what I wanted on an itty bitty budget. At this point I really need to put another coat of poly on them – but they’ll survive until life slows down a bit.

So… without further ado… here’s the post on where we did flooring our way:

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Y’all know I’m not a conventional kinda girl. We’ve contemplated floors for our kitchen for over a year now. We’ve gone back and forth about a bajillion times – vinyl floors, prefab floors, peel and stick tiles – we’ve looked all over the place. But, in the end, we chose something that’s not even “truly” flooring. We figured that since we use 1×6 #2 yellow pine for everything else, floors made sense, too! We bought 8 ft planks for about $4 each, which equaled about out to about 75 cents a sq ft, once you add in all the stain and paint. It does not, however, factor in time.

First, Mr. SCC cut all the 8 ft planks into 4 ft pieces, then cut about 6 of those in half again to 2 ft sections. I sanded each board, one by one, top, ends and knocked the sharp edges off the corners for a worn farmhouse feel. (Yes, I did the sanding, hence no photos of that step.)

Next, we staggered the joints, starting with a 2 ft. plank, then the next row started with a 4 ft. plank. (Notice my lovely blue subfloors, which I tried for a bit to live with, just as painted floors.)

We pre-drilled the holes, to prevent splinters and splitting. Then we used wood screws, attaching it straight to the sub-floors. We thought about using pin nails, but decided that the exposed nail heads were our favorite part of old farm house floors.

We used my favorite Minwax Jacobean stain, transforming the yellow pine into a warm brown tone.

As I sealed the floor with Helmspar satin poly (yeah, me again, so no pics), I made sure to fill in the tops of the screw heads to keep them from collecting too much dirt. I suggest 3 coats of poly for durability, letting them dry between each coat according to directions.

I do get one question over and over about them:

Do they cup? No, we’ve not had any major cupping issues. Wood can cup, and ours have just a tiny bit, but it just makes them look real, ya know?

You can learn more about my floors {including many more questions answered} by checking out my other post on how to make your own flooring with 1×6 pine in the DIY Wood Floors Post

Real wood farmhouse floors for a fraction of the budget – now that’s my kind of flooring.

Gina Luker is a writer, photographer and lover of all things quirky. She's usually found with a drill in one hand and a cocktail in the other while blogging along the way. She's addicted to coffee, polka dots, rock stars, Instagram, and everything aqua.

I know you probably plan on staying in that house forever, but would you recommend this method for somebody who might move someday? Does attaching the wood right to the subfloor impact the house’s value? It seems pretty permanent…

Hi, I just came over from LeAnna’s blog (Thoughts and Whatnots) and I love this flooring idea! My husband and I are mega DIYers and this is an AMAZING and most importantly inexpensive idea!!! I’m going to show this to him when he gets home! I just posted the first part (of two)of the pics of our home, it’s been a three and a half year project! I’m going to check out more of you blog now to get ideas for future projects!

This is a terrific idea and you are very fortunate to have such a handy husband!Do you think this method would work forpainted floors, as well as stained floors?I think the paint would wear more, but I would like the imperfection of it.

You could paint with Milk paint. It absorbs fully into the raw wood and is almost impossible to remove. You have to actually sand it off, stripper won’t take in out of raw wood. You can also use milk paint mixed thinner as a coloured stain as well. I use and sell Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint and it is amazing on raw wood. Then you could seal with a poly coat or with hemp oil or tung oil.

@Kimberly Knoess I’d *think* it would work with painted floors. Use oil based paint (it’s tougher) and thin the first coat with paint thinner by 1/3, so it go into the wood. Then, after it’s dry, coat it with 2 layers of paint. Top it off with 3 coats of poly and it should withstand daily traffic. Hope this helps!

Great floor DIY! We have Jacobean stain on our floors too, and it’s great. I wanted darker, but my builder and the flooring people sort of manipulated me out of it. I was mad at first, but now I realize that it’s the right shade — not too dark so dirt shows, and not too light so dirt shows.

Gina! Your floors are beautiful and I’m totally obsessing over this project now. After laying the floors down and screwing them in, did you have to sand the surface to make sure the boards were even with one another? Thanks!!!

I’ve been looking for an inexpensive solution to our great room. I hate the wall to wall carpet but we can’t afford to replace it. It is a huge room, so anything we do won’t be cheap. I absolutely love the look of your floors, and this is similar to what I really really want in there! I’m going to show this to my husband and hopefully he will say yeah, ok! (fingers crossed)Thanks so much for this tutorial, it is perfect. Debbie

I have commented twice about questions concerning the fact that a simple butt joint between the boards is NOT a good idea as seasonal expansion and contraction of the wood will cause cracks to open up which will trap dirt. This is why wood flooring is made with a tongue and groove joint to accommodate for this movement. You are doing your readers a disservice by not mentioning this. Many people may choose to proceed with your style of installation anyway as the savings is considerable, but they should be made aware of the drawbacks. I’m sure you will choose not to post this comment, just as you have deleted my past two statements. Very, VERY disturbing.

Tongue and groove is still a butt joint. The more common practice is a 1/4″-3/8″ gap at the wall perimeter and a couple expansion rows using pennies or washers between rows while installing. Some even space every row when using DIY plank or plywood. Another tip to take you from DIY to pro is to staple 15lb contractor paper/felt/tar paper to the sub floor before laying the planks to eliminate squeaking. Another is to lay the planking perpendicular to the floor joists to prevent cupping/bowing. One last aesthetic pro detail is to not align every other plank end when staggering. This is called an “H” joint and is not considered best practice by the pros.

Last but not least, face-nailing at the plank ends and in the middle with cut nails (while using finishing nails every 8″-12″) and applying AT LEAST 6 coats of poly, will take your DIY floor to a whole new level.

Thanks for posting my comment, Gina. Your tutorial gives an inexpensive option for flooring that many people will undoubtedly choose, even knowing the potential drawbacks, but they should be aware. Money is tight for ME and from time to time I build things that may not be entirely proper, but it’s what I can afford or it uses materials that I have on hand and I have decided I can live with the less than perfect results dictated. Nothing wrong as long as full disclosure is made.

I love how you handled this commenter. I think dirt is a part of owning this style of floor. For me that is what I love about it; dirt friendly!! I have an old dog, a new to me home that is older with no landscape. Tearing out my carpet and laying this down will accommodate my situation. My loveable, old dog can track in all the dirt he can carry and I will no longer concern myself with it…. a sweep and a mop and it’s all good…. so long dirty carpet!

I’ve seen other tutorials that have used strips of plywood. I was considering it as well, but then there is the time consuming venture of cutting each piece. Your idea is much more appealing. I can’t wait to do this in the Spring! There are so many possibilities; paint, stain, stencil on top of paint/stain – I get so excited thinking about it!! Thank you for sharing your ideas with us, what you do is appreciated!
Kat

Thanks for your advice, my husband and I just installed pine wood floors in our heaviest traveled room (see if it holds up). If it does (and looking good so far), we’ll do many other rooms. Also, thank you heaps for the suggestion to go to a sawmill! We didn’t even know that we had one 12 miles from our house. Mr. Howell ( crakersawmill.com ) sold us tongue and groove 8 in boards for 80 cents a linear foot! Same price as plank, and cheaper than the big box stores! Your blog is very helpful

I recently came across your blog and did this floor in an older house and it turned out awesome! I did a few things different like hand planning all my boards for the “hand scraped” look and staggered my joints with a few different size boards. I also used Minwax polyurethane fast drying for floor in a clear satin and stressed the planks a little with different items. Everyone that sees this loves it!! Thank you for the blog!!

Ohhh, I would love to see a picture of that!!! I bet it’s awesomely beautiful! I have to redo my living room floor in a very old house and have chosen to use 1×4 wood. I haven’t decided if I want to stain or paint. I’m on a tight budget but very crafty.
Thanks for your great ideas and for this awesome blog!

I’m planning to do this in our kitchen and dining room (to replace the carpet that my 3 little ones love to drop food onto). But I’m coming up with much different numbers. I’ve priced everything and it comes to about $2 a sq ft. One thing I’m spending a little more for is a finish that is less toxic (I’m looking at either Waterlox or PolyWhey). But then I noticed something on this article. You say you spent $4 a board for 8ft 1x6s, and your total cost was $.75 a sq ft. But wouldn’t an 8ft 1×6 at $4 be $1 a sq ft? Please correct my math.

I would like to use the 75 year old (1″ x 6″) pine wood paneling that was taken off the walls of my house and recycle them on my kitchen floor and hallway. I was thinking that the panels could be cut lengthwise to eliminate the T&G edge and the “v” on the top surface. Any thoughts? Thanks so much!

My husband and I spent 400.00 ON PERGO FLOORS at first they looked good then the new wore off and we were left unhappy. I love this and my husband I are planning to do are whole house. I can not thank you enough he is super happy to do this and it is under what we were quoted from Lowes to do 1/4th of our home.

I like the idea of your floor. I am going to do this for my grandson’s bedroom. I had considered a laminate floor
because that is what I have in the rest of my house. But I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea for his bedroom
because he has a cat and a dog and sometimes his floor gets wet and you certainly can;t have that on a laminate
floor. Thanks for the idea.

I loved this idea!! I did this in my kitchen and dining room and it looks amazing. I polyurethaned my floor with high gloss and it looks fantastic. I am moving on to the den now, no more carpet and no more laminate. Thanks for sharing your inspiring ideas!

Hi Ginia, this just blows me away!!! I know you are probably so tired of questions on this subject, but is there any way you could post a pic of the entire room in one shot so I can get a better idea of how it looks with your furniture and other furnishings? You know how computer screens are and mine is small, so I thought a pic of the entire room or at least as much as you can fit in a frame would give me a better idea of how it looks as if I were there looking into the room. I’d love to try this but before I do I want to see a long shot if possible. Thank you so much for this incredible post.

I am getting ready to do this to our house. I know several people who have done this and it turned out great. One guy I know used 2 X 10 and all he did to the planks was sand them, seal them and then he put a satin finish on them. He didn’t put a space between each board and it turned out great. Everybody have a great day and a better one tomorrow.

I’m curious… I see it’s been a few years since you did your floors. Just curious if they’re still holding up. I was looking to see if this was possible laat evening and ran across your blog. Your floors look beautiful in the picture, but curious how they’ve held up overtime.

They’re still holding up great! There’s a little wear on them, but we love it because the idea was to have warm & loved farmhouse style floors, so the wear just makes them look better to us. The ones in our bedroom aren’t as worn (but the kitchen floors are older and get used a LOT more.) Hope this helps!

The floors look great. I may do the same in the tiny house I am building on my two acres. The two things I may do differently is cut a simple tongue and groove joint as well as trying to use oil to seal the floors.

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